Elections economy

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The main opposition party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) posing as a government-in-waiting has rolled out its agenda for 100 days which it promises to complete if it comes into power after elections due in late July.

The plan, titled “Imran Khan’s 110 Days Agenda” is basically aimed at setting the direction for the elected government to follow during its five-year term.

While holding out assurance to the people that the PTI would ensure good governance, economic progress and strengthened national security under its rule, the party announced a series of steps it plans to undertake in the first hundred days in office to achieve these objectives.

For this purpose, PTI chairman Imran Khan said his government, if formed in Islamabad, would bring about reforms in education as well as health sector, and ensure basic amenities are given to the common people.

As expected, almost all political parties came down heavily on the PTI which is aspiring to grab power for the first time in the center.

The critics said the PTI failed in its five year rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to enforce this ambitious agenda, while its main rival Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) rejected the agenda as unrealistic, and its leaders rather blamed the PTI for plagiarising the agenda from its Vision 2025 floated by Planning-cum-Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal.

It has been an old tradition in Pakistan that political parties announce their manifestos close to elections to tell the people what they aim to do if elected to power, therefore, it is a welcome step by the PTI that it has unveiled a plan to be executed in the first hundred days in government.

The PTI chairman has already broadly spelt out his party manifesto in the 11-point programme he gave at the Minar-e-Pakistan rally last month.

One must appreciate PTI for planning out its programmes in a very systematic manner. However, some critics say many of the targets set by the PTI are very ambitious and seem to have been set without taking ground realities into account.

The PML-N government after completing its five year term in office is boasting of the achievements it claims to have made, but has very conveniently ignored the problems it is leaving out for the next government to tackle.

Unfortunately, its opponents are also making tall claims in an effort to grab the power, and it seems they too have not given any serious considerations to the challenges faced by the country.

Many observers believe that the next elected government has to take very important decisions concerning major issues confronting the country.

Currently, the circular debt and balance of payment crisis are the foremost challenges faced by the government. Ironically, these are the same issues which the PML-N government faced after coming into power.

Nawaz Sharif paid off the entire 480 billion rupees circular debt in one go with a promise that it would address the energy crisis on permanent basis.

Similarly, it actively negotiated with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) a bailout package within a few months to avoid a balance of payment crisis.

The PML-N government is now leaving the circular debt more than double of what was left by the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) as well as the previous caretaker government.

The country also faces prospect of facing balance of payment crisis one more time and it has to knock the doors of the IMF if funds are not arranged from alternate resources.

The caretaker as well as the elected governments would have some more issues to deal with. For example, the staggering current account deficit because of the falling exports and rising imports has emerged as a major concern for the country.

While unveiling their agenda, the PTI stalwarts should have deliberated on these challenges and should have come up with their strategy about how to deal with them if they came into power.

While one can understand the compulsion of the parties to do populist politics particularly close to the general elections to woo the voters, at the same time one expects them to give serious considerations to the real and actual problems faced by the country.

For multiple reasons, the economy of Pakistan has been in doldrums for a number of years and it needs a sustained and consistent strategy to be dealt with.

Continuity of a political process brings political stability and it is a must for the economic progress of a country. But our political leadership should realise that, challenges notwithstanding, the country has now seen the longest stint of uninterrupted political rule over ten years.

The PML-N’s is the second consecutive civilian government which has completed its full five year tenure and it is time for the political leadership to analyse its own shortcomings and patiently look upon the real challenges faced by the country.

The political parties still have several weeks to unveil their manifestos but instead of churning out run-of-the-mills manifestos, they should come up with innovative ideas to ameliorate the lot of millions of deprived people.

Many people have rightly questioned the PTI’s tall claim of generating ten million jobs in the country in five years. While such bombastic claims are unavoidable in the politically charged election campaigning, such slogans subsequently become ammunition in the hand of opponents for propaganda against the government.

In this age of information and social media, voters cannot be lured through hollow sloganeering. Political parties should give a realistic assessment of the country based on ground realities, and then propose realistic solutions to these challenges.

There might be many shortcomings and lacunas in the PTI agenda, but it has at least set some goals irrespective of how realistic or unrealistic they might be.

The rival parties should not confine themselves to criticism; instead they should come up with their counter agendas outlining how they would deal with these challenges.

It is also the responsibility of the media that instead of indulging in useless race of viewership ratings they initiate substantive dialogue and persuade the political leaders and their other guests in the talk shows to discuss issues instead of just indulging in useless shouting matches.

Now that civilians have entering into the eleventh year of their uninterrupted rule, they have to show good governance and genuinely have to make efforts to address the major challenges of the country.

The challenges are growing for Pakistan, and so are these challenges increasing for the political leadership of the country.

The writer is a senior journalist based in Islamabad